California is officially bigger than France

A
surfer gets an early start on the Thanksgiving holiday as he
rides a long board past the setting sun while surfing at sunset
off Cardiff Beach in Cardiff, California, November 23,
2004.Mike Blake
MB/Reuters

California is officially the 6th largest economy in the
world.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis's latest
data on state growth showed that the west coast
state's economic output for 2015 came in at $2.46 trillion.

That number pushes California's economic output above that of
France, which pumped out an estimated $2.422
trillion last year.

Somewhat notably, while France's population comes
in around 66.48 million, California's
is only about 39.14 million —
which means that the US state produces slightly more
than France with about 40% fewer people.

The only countries with higher GDP output than California now are
the US as a whole, China, Japan, Germany, and the UK.

And as a side note, the BEA also estimated that California's
economy grew by 5.7% in 2015 — the second highest growth rate in
the US, just behind Oregon's 5.9%.